Tami C. Franklin
MWF 10:30 Hallock
Live Art Performance
“The Drowsy Chaperone”
The sound of instruments from the orchestra in the pit and the voices on the stage, a sprout of laughter, and a moment of romance are just some of the pieces of a theatre performance, this time coming together in the show entitled, “The Drowsy Chaperone”. The production is described as a “musical within a comedy” and it is rightly entitled to that due to its humor, songs, and dancing. “The Drowsy Chaperone” is based on the book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar, the music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison, and is directed by B. Peter Westerhoff. The particular performance I viewed on Wednesday, April 18th, 2012 was held at the Seretean center in the Vivia Locke theatre. The cast consisted of the Oklahoma State University’s theatre department undergraduate and graduate students and was sponsored by the Office of the Provost of Oklahoma State University.
The crowd attending the show appeared to be one of two types, casual to very casual dressed college students or work appropriate dressed middle aged persons. This was the second night of a week long performance schedule and the auditorium was about half capacity at the start of the show. The music began flowing out from the orchestra pit warming the room up for the show. The stage curtain opened and revealed the scenery as the man in the chair’s apartment home. He plays his old record and the story of “The Drowsy Chaperone” is to be seen unfolding as if in his vision or his dream right there in his room. There are additional backdrops as the story progresses to give you a feel for the location of the story. This story is filled with many, many props which assist the storyline to move quickly while entertaining the audience without any boring gaps left behind. The props add color and shapes as if a moving piece of art. As a giant heart breaks in half it is taken in two different directions creating a space between what once was whole, colors and shapes are swirling and twirling and moving about. Actors will be seen entering and exiting the stage through doors which were earlier the man’s refrigerator and also through the bed which flips up to create a wall, and a woman’s clothes will change magically behind a giant umbrella. So the images at certain moments appear as one art canvas and then are quickly swapped to another. There are many theatrical posters covering the main backdrop of the stage which connects to both the man’s love for the art of theatre and music and the story itself filled with music and dancing.
I would say the style of theatre “The Drowsy Chaperone” fits into is that of realism. The characters portrayed on stage are real to life with realistic settings and staging. The music and clothing represent the styles of the twenties and thirties and the apartment in today’s time frame. The beauty of the performance touches the heart through the feeling one gets from seeing how much this story excites and brings happiness to the man in the chair and in the end he becomes a part of it. The aesthetic quality of the performance feels most like love, along with a small part sly motivations and aggressive persuasions. The overall theme appears to remind us how a story’s strength never dies. A story may be stale from sitting on a shelf, the clothing styles and styles of speech may be from another time, and the music may be viewed as out of date to the “now” younger generation, but when retold with passion it comes alive with fervor. Similar to how a new art form is reborn out of an older one.
The art of theatre is an intricate display of expression, just as can be found in other art forms. It is considered a group art project even though it usually begins with one or two. The writers set up the overall image with a story infusing their artistic perception into the plot. The musicians and lyricists add their part and put a certain tint on the color of the overall picture. The director has such an important addition by guiding the brushstrokes of the path of the performers. The artists who paint or put the scenery and props together have their own fingerprints embedded into the art form. The actors will develop their characters and will strive to exist on stage as that person. As they do this there will always be a touch of their unique personality infused into that character making it that much more special and individual. This can be seen in key points, and these happen to be ones that caught my attention throughout the show, such as facial expressions. You could think of facial expressions as being tiny embellishments on the art, along with the tone or pitch of a character’s voice. So many parts to consider that actually come together to form the final piece. Typically an intricate individual painting might take hundreds of brushstrokes by the hand of its creator. There are just as many brushstrokes in the art of theatre, just not all by the same hand.
Theatre art, considering it a group art project with the director as the leader, will have a different meaning, intention, and purpose based through which individual’s eyes and thoughts you are looking through. As actors I would think their overall intent would be to persuade an audience viewer to walk away from their performance feeling convinced of the reality of the story that was told. Like looking back on an oil painting and having that feeling of satisfaction that it is a great work of art, they can look back on their performance feeling confident in the quality of excellence of their art of performance. Theatre can allow people to step into roles that may hold an element they would love to express, but dare not in their normal day to day lives. The actors in the OSU department of theatre are given a stage to grow and personalize their acting abilities while also making available to their community an age old entertainment of storytelling. It was nothing but obvious the audience was well engaged in the performance with intermittent sounds of applause, laughter and a well deserved standing ovation at the close of the show.
MWF 10:30 Hallock
Live Art Performance
“The Drowsy Chaperone”
The sound of instruments from the orchestra in the pit and the voices on the stage, a sprout of laughter, and a moment of romance are just some of the pieces of a theatre performance, this time coming together in the show entitled, “The Drowsy Chaperone”. The production is described as a “musical within a comedy” and it is rightly entitled to that due to its humor, songs, and dancing. “The Drowsy Chaperone” is based on the book by Bob Martin and Don McKellar, the music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison, and is directed by B. Peter Westerhoff. The particular performance I viewed on Wednesday, April 18th, 2012 was held at the Seretean center in the Vivia Locke theatre. The cast consisted of the Oklahoma State University’s theatre department undergraduate and graduate students and was sponsored by the Office of the Provost of Oklahoma State University.
The crowd attending the show appeared to be one of two types, casual to very casual dressed college students or work appropriate dressed middle aged persons. This was the second night of a week long performance schedule and the auditorium was about half capacity at the start of the show. The music began flowing out from the orchestra pit warming the room up for the show. The stage curtain opened and revealed the scenery as the man in the chair’s apartment home. He plays his old record and the story of “The Drowsy Chaperone” is to be seen unfolding as if in his vision or his dream right there in his room. There are additional backdrops as the story progresses to give you a feel for the location of the story. This story is filled with many, many props which assist the storyline to move quickly while entertaining the audience without any boring gaps left behind. The props add color and shapes as if a moving piece of art. As a giant heart breaks in half it is taken in two different directions creating a space between what once was whole, colors and shapes are swirling and twirling and moving about. Actors will be seen entering and exiting the stage through doors which were earlier the man’s refrigerator and also through the bed which flips up to create a wall, and a woman’s clothes will change magically behind a giant umbrella. So the images at certain moments appear as one art canvas and then are quickly swapped to another. There are many theatrical posters covering the main backdrop of the stage which connects to both the man’s love for the art of theatre and music and the story itself filled with music and dancing.
I would say the style of theatre “The Drowsy Chaperone” fits into is that of realism. The characters portrayed on stage are real to life with realistic settings and staging. The music and clothing represent the styles of the twenties and thirties and the apartment in today’s time frame. The beauty of the performance touches the heart through the feeling one gets from seeing how much this story excites and brings happiness to the man in the chair and in the end he becomes a part of it. The aesthetic quality of the performance feels most like love, along with a small part sly motivations and aggressive persuasions. The overall theme appears to remind us how a story’s strength never dies. A story may be stale from sitting on a shelf, the clothing styles and styles of speech may be from another time, and the music may be viewed as out of date to the “now” younger generation, but when retold with passion it comes alive with fervor. Similar to how a new art form is reborn out of an older one.
The art of theatre is an intricate display of expression, just as can be found in other art forms. It is considered a group art project even though it usually begins with one or two. The writers set up the overall image with a story infusing their artistic perception into the plot. The musicians and lyricists add their part and put a certain tint on the color of the overall picture. The director has such an important addition by guiding the brushstrokes of the path of the performers. The artists who paint or put the scenery and props together have their own fingerprints embedded into the art form. The actors will develop their characters and will strive to exist on stage as that person. As they do this there will always be a touch of their unique personality infused into that character making it that much more special and individual. This can be seen in key points, and these happen to be ones that caught my attention throughout the show, such as facial expressions. You could think of facial expressions as being tiny embellishments on the art, along with the tone or pitch of a character’s voice. So many parts to consider that actually come together to form the final piece. Typically an intricate individual painting might take hundreds of brushstrokes by the hand of its creator. There are just as many brushstrokes in the art of theatre, just not all by the same hand.
Theatre art, considering it a group art project with the director as the leader, will have a different meaning, intention, and purpose based through which individual’s eyes and thoughts you are looking through. As actors I would think their overall intent would be to persuade an audience viewer to walk away from their performance feeling convinced of the reality of the story that was told. Like looking back on an oil painting and having that feeling of satisfaction that it is a great work of art, they can look back on their performance feeling confident in the quality of excellence of their art of performance. Theatre can allow people to step into roles that may hold an element they would love to express, but dare not in their normal day to day lives. The actors in the OSU department of theatre are given a stage to grow and personalize their acting abilities while also making available to their community an age old entertainment of storytelling. It was nothing but obvious the audience was well engaged in the performance with intermittent sounds of applause, laughter and a well deserved standing ovation at the close of the show.